Framingham
derived its name, first known as Danforth's Farm, from Thomas Danforth of
England. He was the son of Nicholas who had been a native of Framlingham,
Suffolk County, England which is about 90 miles northeast of London and about 12
miles from the shore of the North Sea. In the late 1880's, this town was
comprised of about 3,000 inhabitants and its chief features were the great
church and the extensive ruins of a once magnificent castle whose walls were
eight feet thick and forty-four feet high.

While living in
Framlingham, Nicholas Danforth married at about age thirty and was the father of
seven children, one named Mary died in infancy. He was a protestor of the
bigotry and oppression of the English rulers, and though not of gentry or
considered wealthy, was a respected and trusted man who had served as trustee of
the town and land properties. His signature bore that of "yeoman" indicating
therein that he was not gentry but a freeholder of land.

In 1634 he
escaped England and its persecutors, coming to what was then called "New Towne"
and arrived in Boston on September 18th on the "Griffin" - a ship from London
which weighed 300 tons and carried two hundred passengers including his
brother-in-law Rev. Zechariah Symmes (who later became minister of Charlestown)
and his six children, three sons and three daughters ranging in age from six to
sixteen. His wife, Elizabeth Symmes had perished nearly five years earlier in
Aspall, Suffolk, England in 1629.

In this new
country, Nicholas worked as a surveyor, and set out the boundaries for Concord,
Roxbury, Dedham, and Dorchester. He served as a deputy to the General Court and
thus settled in New Towne which had been renamed by the same court, as
Cambridge. He was admitted freeman on March 3, 1635-6 and was an original member
of the church of Cambridge, had been chosen representative in 1636 and 1637, and
had made the first appropriation for the establishment of Harvard College.
Nicholas died in April 1638, only three and a half years after his arrival.

Children of
Nicholas & Elizabeth Danforth

Elizabeth - born 3
Aug 1619 in Framlingham, England; married Andrew Belcher, Sr. of Cambridge on
1 Oct 1639. They were the grandparents of Governor Jonathan Belcher and owners
of the Blue Anchor Tavern in Cambridge.

Mary - born 3 may
1621 in Framlingham, England and married Thomas Parrish of Cambridge in 1639.

Anne - born 3 Sep
1622 in Framlingham, England; married Matthew Bridge of Cambridge on 19 Jan
1642/43 and was great-grandmother of the second pastor of the church in
Framingham, Rev. Matthew Bridge.

Thomas - born 20 Nov
1623 in Framlingham, England; married Mary Withington of Dorchester on 23 Feb
1643/44. They were the parents of Sarah - born 16 Apr 1645; died 29 Oct same
year; Sarah - born 11 Nov 1646; married Rev. Joseph Whiting; Mary - born 28
Jul 1650 married (1) Solomon Phipps of Charlestown; md (2) Thomas Brown of
Sudbury; Samuel - born 5 Oct 1652; graduated at Harvard University in 1671 and
died of small-pox in London on 22 Dec 1676; Thomas - born 16 Dec 1654;
probably killed in the great Narraganset Swamp fight on 19 Dec 1675; Jonathan
- born 27 Feb 1657; died within a few weeks; Jonathan - born 10 Feb 1659;
graduated from Harvard University in 1679 and died unmarried at Cambridge on
13 Nov 1682; Joseph - born 18 Sep 1661 ; died 2 Oct 1663; Benjamin - born 20
May 1663; died 23 Aug 1663; Elizabeth - born 11 Jan 1665; married Francis
Foxcroft of Cambridge on 3 Oct 1682; and Bethia - baptized 16 June 1667; died
the following year.

Lydia - born 24 May
1625 in Framlingham, England and married William Beaman on 9 Dec 1643 in
Sabybrook, CT and died there on 16 Aug 1686.

Samuel - born in 17
Oct 1627 in Framlingham, England, graduated at Harvard University in 1643. He
became pastor of the church in Roxbury from 1650-1674 and was a colleague with
the apostle Eliot. He married Mary Wilson on 5 Nov 1651 and died in Roxbury on
19 Nov 1674. His wife Mary died on 13 Sep 1713.

Jonathan - born 28
Feb 1627/28 in Framlingham and settled in Billerica where he died on 7 Sep
1712.

These young
children of Nicholas, now orphaned, were left upon their own, the death of their
mother nine years earlier, preparing them somewhat for the duties that were
required of them. Elizabeth, the oldest and in her twentieth year, married
Andrew Belcher of Sudbury eighteen months after her father had died. They kept a
"house of publique entertainment" which was to become the famous Blue Anchor
Tavern, located at the corner of what was later called Brighton and Mount Auburn
Streets. After the death of her husband in 1673, Elizabeth kept the tavern
license which was then passed to her son Andrew. - Her husband's family was
among the wealthy and liberal merchants of Boston who were staunch loyalists and
held many offices under the Crown, one being the royal governor, first of
Massachusetts and afterward of New Jersey. Another, in the next generation, was
lieutenant-governor and chief-justice of Nova Scotia whom it was said "was
associated with John Adams and Josiah Quincy as counsel for the British soldiers
indicted for murder in the Boston Massacre."

Anna, next eldest
daughter, became the care giver of the younger children and married at age
twenty-four. Her husband was Matthew Bridge, the son of John who was a leading
citizen. This marriage lasted fifty-six years, until the death of her husband.

Lydia, the
youngest daughter, married at the age of nineteen. Her husband was William
Beaman of Saybrook, Connecticut. She returned with him and there she remained
the rest of her life, dying at the age of sixty-two. Her name appears as grantee
of lands bought from Joshua, the son of Uncas, an Indian sachem.

Jonathan, the
youngest of the family, became surveyor and was known as "Father of Billerica"
where he had emigrated from Cambridge in about 1654 along with the first
settlers, and built what may have been the first house in the Indian village os
Sawshin. His skill as a surveyor had given him continual employment and his
survey descriptions are said to have filled 200 pages of land grants, penned in
very clear and handsome handwriting - the contents of which have been preserved
in the state archives of New Hampshire.

He married
Elizabeth Poulter in Boston on 22 Nov 1654 by whom he had eleven children. After
her death on 7 Oct 1689, he married Esther Champney Converse of Woburn, on the
17th of November 1690. - The children of Jonathan and his first with Elizabeth
were: Mary who married John Parker (probably a descendant of Joshua Parker of
Groton who was son of Captain James Parker who had married Abigail, the youngest
daughter of William Shattuck and widow of Jonathan Morse - son of Joseph and
Hester); Elizabeth who married Simon Haywood; Jonathan; John who died shortly
after birth; John who also died as an infant; Lydia who married Edward Wright;
Samuel who married Hannah Crosby; Anna who married Oliver Whiting; Thomas,
Nicholas; and Sarah who married William French.

Samuel, two years
older than Jonathan, had been dedicated to the ministry and was placed in the
care of Rev. Shepard. He afterwards completed his courses in college and
graduated in 1643. In 1650 he was ordained colleague to John Eliot, the revered
pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, whose "labors for the red men occupied
much of his time, and procured for him the title of 'Apostle to the Indians.,"

He also gave much
attention to the study of astronomy and published a series of almanacs, and a
particular account of the comet of 1664. Samuel married Mary Wilson, daughter of
the first pastor of the Old Church in Boston and they were the parents of twelve
children. He died on 19 Nov 1674 and his remains were laid in Governor Dudley's
tomb.

Thomas, the
eldest son of Nicholas, married Mary Withington within the same year his sister
Anna had married. This same year, 1643, he was admitted freeman and in 1650 was
treasurer of Harvard College, an office he held for nineteen years. For two
terms he was a representative from Cambridge to the General Court and in 1659
was chosen councillor or assistant of the Executive to which he was elected for
nearly twenty years. In 1679 up until the dissolution of the colonial
government, he was deputy governor, and Commissioner of United Colonies between
1668 and 1679. He also held the position of President of the District of Maine
between 1680 and 1686 and also 1689 to 1692 and was a member of Council of
Safety in 1689, Justice of Superior Court from 1692 to 1699 and had been from
1662 to 1679 commissioner from Massachusetts to the New England Confederacy
which negotiated treaties with the Indians.

On the 16th of
October of 1660, Thomas was granted 250 acres of land which joined the Sudbury
town line on the west side of Sudbury river and was adjacent to the land already
occupied by John Stone who had, with other residents of Watertown, made a
journey to the Connecticut river to erect a few huts at Pyquag (Wethersfield)
and remained for the winter. Stone purchased of the Indians eleven acres of land
in 1656 and a grant of 50 acres was added thereto, laid out in May of 1658. He
also purchased the Corlett farm of two hundred acres in December of 1661 and
purchased of Mr. Danforth, twenty acres of meadow.

Other land
records for Thomas indicate that on the 7th of May 1662, he was granted 200
acres of land adjoining lands he "hath between Conecticot path and Marlbrorough"
which was laid out "adjoining to and west of the former grant of 250 acres.

Having supplied
the Commissioners to York with ten pounds money he was granted this same day,
"so much land lying between Whipsufferage an Connecticut path, adjoining to his
farm as old Goodman Rice and Goodman How of Marlborow shall judge the said ten
pounds to be worth, and they improwered to bound the same to him."

In addition to
these lands, the General Court allowed and approved additional lands on October
7th of 1662, a grant that covered most of the Framingham territory on the
westerly side of Sudbury river, and between the river and Southborough line.
These lands amounted to no less than 15,500 acres within the limits of the old
Framingham plantation.

The following is
a portion of the deed given to Danforth by the Indians, it states in part:
"Indians all of Natick in the County of Middlesex and Massachusetts Colony in
New England, for and in consideration of the sum of forty shillings in current
money of ye New England, to them in hand payd at and before ensealing and
delivery of these presents by Thomas Danforth Esqr of Cambridge in the above
Colony and County, have granted bargained and sold, aliened Enfeoffed and
confirmed and by these presents do grant bargaine and sell, alien enfeoffe and
confirme unto him the Said Thomas Danforth, all that tract of land to him the
said Danforth belonging and appertayning, Scittuate, lying and being on the
Southerly or South Esterly Side of Sudbury River, counting by Estimation Eight
hundred acres more or less, and was the grant of the Genral Court of five
hundred acres part therof to Richard Russell Esqr deceased, and three hundred
acres to Marshall Richard Wayte, late of Boston deceased, to him the said Thomas
Danforth, to have and to hold the above granted tract of land and every part and
partes therof, together with all the priviledges and appartenains therunto
belinging or in any wise appertayning to him the said Thomas Danforth, his yeyrs
and assignes forever to his and their only proper use and behoof ... "and was signed the first of
October 1684.

After he had
matured and made known his plans for supervising of his land by long leases,
settlers began to locate on the west side of Farm Pond, and on the west side of
Sudbury river and the Whitneys and Mellens who had come from Watertown, settled
on Danforth's land in about 1687 or 1688.

Intending to
personally supervise the settlements on his Framingham farm, Danforth found
responsible parties to homestead and cultivate his lands, and in turn, he
allowed them to occupy these homesteads rent-free for a few years, so that
settlers began coming along rapidly and by the time Danforth died on the 5th of
November 1699, there were about 70 families located on this land.

After Danforth's
death, the differences between the town of Sherborn and the inhabitants of the
plantation of Framingham (which was described as "all that tract of land
formerly granted to Thomas Danforth") was ordered and dated June 25, 1700, that
"said plantation be from henceforth a township" and was signed by Bellmont, the
Royal Provincial Governor.

Among some of the
settlers were those families of Danvers, then called Salem Village, some of
which were tragically accused of witchcraft. Rebecca (Town) Nurse, the wife of
Francis and mother of Benjamin and her sister Sarah (Town) Clayes, wife of
Peter, were among those accused. The jury, on two occasions, failed to convict
Rebecca, but upon the third trial, the third court came to the conclusion that
she had not full answered their questions and convicted her. It was later
learned that due to deafness, she had been unable to full comprehend the
questions. She was driven in a cart with four others to Gallows Hill and hanged
on the 19th of July in 1692. One sister, Mary (Town) Estey, was also hanged on
charges of being a witch, and her sister Sarah, had been tried and found guilty
and was committed to a jail in Ipswich where her husband was allowed to visit
her. Finding, or having been given means to escape, Sarah was concealed by her
friends and eventually the uproar of the witchcraft and trials began to subside,
this due largely in part to Governor Danforth who was instrumental in stopping
the convictions by the court.

Rebecca,
mentioned above, was the daughter of William Town and wife of Francis who died
on 22 Nov 1695 at the age of 77, surviving his wife, who had been an honored
member of the old church in Salem at the time she was hanged. They were the
parents of eight children: John; Samuel; Rebecca who married Thomas Preston;
Mary who married John Tarbell; Francis who was born 3 Feb 1661 and had settled
in Reading; Benjamin who was born 26 Jan 1666; Michael; and a daughter who
married William Russell.

The son Benjamin
had emigrated from Framingham in 1693 and had located on Salem Plain. His second
wife was Elizabeth (Sawtel/Sautle) Morse, widow of Joseph Morse of Watertown
whom he married on 16 Feb 1713-14. They were the parents of Elizabeth, Joseph,
Abigail, Zechariah, Samuel, Jonathan. - Sarah Town, sister of Rebecca and wife
of Peter Clayes, had first married Edmund Bridges of Salem, and had five
children. It was in the spring of 1692, ten years after her marriage to Peter,
that she had been accused of witchcraft and was imprisoned, escaping the day
before her execution. She later died in 1703, the same year the town of
Framingham hired school master Deacon Joshua Hemenway.

James Clayes, son
of Peter, was the father of Mary Clayes who was born 12 October 1712 and had
married Deacon Jonathan Morse who was the son of Joseph but had been brought up
by his step-father Benjamin Nurse. This Jonathan was the father of Nathan Morse
who had married Elizabeth Stevens. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and the
grandfather of Marianne Nichols Morse who had married William Henry Danforth in
Concord, Essex County, Vermont in 1843.

The line of the
Danforths of Framingham to the Morse family of the same, is suspected to tie one
to the other from either Samuel the minister of Roxbury or Jonathan the pioneer
of Billerica, as these two Danforths are the only lines having surviving male
descendants of Nicholas. Although, unlikely, there was a William Danforth who
had immigrated in 1670 and settled in Newbury. This line, in my opinion, does
not evoke the similar ties that the Danforth and Morse lines show in the
Framingham and Watertown areas, and I suspect is not the ancestral line of
William H. Danforth.

The challenge,
herein, is connecting the early Danforth and Morse Massachusetts settlers to
these families of same name who removed to New Hampshire. The Danforths, as far
as can be ascertained, lived in Massachusetts until about 1743 when the
descendants moved from Billerica to Hollis (Hillsborough County, NH) which was
then West Dunstable. But when it was David Danforth, son of Jonathan and Hannah
(Leeman/Lehman) found their way to Fort Covington, Franklin County, New York is
not known. He had married Paulina Richmond, the daughter of Jonathan and
Amarilles (Chambers) in that town in 1806 and this couple is the presumed
parents of William H. Danforth.

Of the Morse
family, it is known that Deacon Jonathan Morse was brought up by his step-father
Benjamin Nurse of Framingham, and that his son Nathan Danforth was born in
Framingham in 1750 and served in the Revolutionary War from Grafton, Worcester
County, Massachusetts. After his service, Nathan moved to Alstead, Cheshire
County, New Hampshire where they remained there until at least 1818 or perhaps
1820, when he removed to Canadice, Ontario County, New York.

Nathan Morse, the
son of Nathan above, though born in Framingham in 1777, had by the year 1800
moved to Concord, Essex County, Vermont where he married Polly Fisher, she
having been born in Alstead, New Hampshire and was the descendant of the early
settlers in Wrentham and Dedham, Massachusetts.

In conclusion,
Nathan and Polly's daughter Marianne Nichols Morse, who was born in 1824, was
the third great-granddaughter of Anna Whitney who had been born in Watertown in
1660 - the very same year Thomas Danforth had been granted the 250 acres of land
lying adjacent to John Stone's land.

John Stone's
sister, Ann, had married Lewis Jones and were parents of Lydia Jones who was the
wife of Jonathan Whitney - thus the parents of Anna Whitney who had married
Cornelius Fisher and became then, the 3rd great grandmother of Marianne (Morse),
wife of William Henry Danforth.

In looking back
upon the history of the early settlers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, it is
apparent that the Danforth and Morse lines are intertwined with these early
emigrants who had left their oppressive rulers of England and then courageously
fought to save their land and preserve the liberty they had sought in Colonial
America. They broke the primitive grounds, they tilled and chartered new
governments. They forged ahead and left behind an ancestry worth looking back
on, and the story of a small Massachusetts town once known as Danforth's Farm.

End

SOURCES

History of Framingham, Early Known
as Danforth's Farms 1640-1880; with a Genealogical Register by Temple, Josiah
Howard; published Framingham 1887.

Memorial of the Morses by Morse,
Rev. Abner; published 1850.

Family Memorials - Genealogies of
the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, including
Waltham and Weston 1st & 2nd Editions - by Bond, Henry, M.D.; published Boston
1855.

Revolutionary War Pension Records
of Nathan Morse.

The Danforth Family in America -
Fifth Meeting; published Boston 1886.